Praying

I've been thinking a lot about praying lately. I make a distinction between praying and prayer; which other, more intelligent and experienced people than I have written about. I've specifically been thinking about how hard it is to begin to pray, i.e. get up off my, umm, couch and pray, as opposed to how easy and comforting praying is once I'm actually praying. In a nutshell, the problem lies in my own self-indulgence. Now, if I could only re-assign those self-indulgent feelings to praying, perhaps I wouldn't be thinking so much about it. The quote below says it better than I can.

Amma Theodora said, "It is good to live in peace, for the wise man practices
perpetual prayer. It is truly a great thing for a virgin or a monk to live in
peace, especially the younger ones. However, you should realize that as soon as
you intend to live in peace, at once evil comes and weighs down your soul
through accidie (listlessness/ boredom/despondency), faintheartedness, and evil
thoughts. It also attacks your body through sickness, debility, weakening of
the knees, and all the members. It dissipates the strength of soul and body, so
that one believes one is ill and no longer able to pray. But if we are
vigilant, all these temptations fall away. There was, in fact, a monk who was
seized by cold and fever every time he began to pray, and he suffered from
headaches too. In this condition, he said to himself, "I am ill, and near to
death; so now I will get up before I die and pray." By reasoning in this way,
he forced himself and prayed. When he had finished, the fever abated also. So,
by reasoning in this way, the brother resisted and prayed, and was able to
conquer his thoughts.

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quote archived as a blog at: http://wordfromthedesert.squarespace.com/

"God's Creation Sings"

A dear, online friend, Theodora in the Mountains posted a beautiful "meditation" on a group I subscribe to. This was so beautiful that I asked for her permission to re-print it here, which she graciously gave me. So, here it is. I wish I could write like this. Heck, I wish I could think like this!

God's creation sings

Sitting on the porch with my morning coffee I was enchanted by the wind moving through the trees. The sound was like a choir in full voice. As it raced through the tops of the tall, majestic pines the drone was like a mighty horn blowing through creation. As it reached the dry, drought ridden mighty oaks and maples it reached up into the high notes as it shook the leaves to the ground. A shower of dead leaves filled the air around the house. What a creation our Lord God made for us. I thought of the poem I had just read in a book found at the one last book store in town. A second hand store where the owner knows every book on her many shelves. It is titled "Rugged Hills, Gentle Folk - My friends and Neighbors in the Big Pine Valley". The life of that people put down in beautiful words and pictures. It is poem from 1900's about Fall.

Come little leaves, said the wind one day,
Come over the meadows with me and play.
Put on your dresses of red and gold;
Summer is gone and the day's growing cold.
Come little leaves! said the wind's loud call,
Down they came, fluttering one and all.
Over the fields, they danced and flew,
Singing the songs that only they knew.
Dancing and flying, the little leaves went.
For Winter was calling and they were content.

How like the Wind of God that sweeps through our lives. The changes of the seasons are given and the Lord provides even when the seasons change and what was once is no more. The drought makes the songs sung by my trees a different one than before but the Wind of God still brings forth the music of Him. My trees are one though not the same. There are Oak, and Maple, Pine and Dogwood. All trees but different in their own way. And the Wind of God blows through them all to the make a glorious mountain of songs. I
listen to the song as the Wind surrounds me, sitting on my porch. This too is life, this too is the Faith. Come Wind of God, sing for me Thy glorious song.

Delete if you wish, but the song goes on as so, too, will our Faith in this world to come.

Theodora in The Mountains

Roots

My poultry yard is a large, fenced area in a pine woods on the side of a small hill, or knob. It's been there for about five or six years now, and the chickens have scratched away all of the grass and weeds until it's just bare earth under the trees and privet bushes. This year I noticed that there are more tree roots showing above ground than before, especially in the more sloping areas. This observation has been brewing in the back of my mind for several weeks now, and yesterday I got the beginning of a thought about it. It's a rather negative thought that can lead to quite positive things, I think. But I suppose that depends on how you look at it.

Roots are things hidden under the ground. They bring nurturance from the ground up to the plant we see above ground, and its state of health depends on what the roots bring to it. Now, the chickens' daily scratching and the yearly rains have begun to unearth the roots and expose them to the sun and air. On a material, practical level, I'm just a bit worried that if this process goes on too far, the trees might start falling. But I suppose, on a material, practical level, that is some years in the future. To get back to my thought, it seems to me that our secret thoughts and behaviors, whether good or ill, can be seen in the roots. With the erosion of weather and circumstance, these roots become exposed, and could threaten the existence of the plant above ground. In the same way, our "roots," or secret thoughts and behaviors, become exposed by the troubles and trials we experience. The above ground plant and fruit (our life and external behavior) show how well we travel through these trials and troubles. If our "roots" are bad, i.e. thin, diseased, and shallow, then the tree above ground might very well die. If they are sound, i.e. strong and deep, then the tree lives.

Once the roots are exposed, everyone can see their state, whether diseased or healthy. I don't know why this would happen to a person. That is, why, after many trials and troubles, a person's soul would be laid bare for all to see. Is it to show the disease so that medicines and remedies can be applied before the erosion becomes too much and the tree falls? Is it to show the strength and health so as to encourage others who have not come so far yet?

In the "poultry yard" of my life, circumstances and trials have scratched away all the "weeds," all of my coping mechanisms and bravado, until there's only "bare earth" now. Only my bare self, sans persona, shows. The incessant scratching of Life has worn me down to just me; what you see is what you get. Now in the evening of my life, after many years of troubles and sorrows, my roots are beginning to show. I wonder what they will disclose?

(This was posted on my 360 blog in July of this year, but I wanted to share it here, too.)